Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate injury update ahead of The Game

COLUMBUS — Ohio State hasn’t had Carnell Tate in its last three games and has been without Jeremiah Smith for the last six quarters.

The Buckeyes are much better with both in the lineup, and Ryan Day updated the status for both of them ahead of the rivalry road trip to Michigan for The Game on Saturday.

“They’re doing everything they can to get on the field,” Day said. “We’ll see how today goes.”

This comes just one day after Smith was on star safety Caleb Downs’ podcast, Downs 2 Business, and said he’s going to be ‘good to go’ for the rivalry clash.

“I’m feeling good,” Jeremiah Smith said on the podcast appearance. “You know, dealing with a little situation, injury-wise. But I should be good to go Saturday.”

Carnell Tate hasn’t played for the Buckeyes since their win over Penn State on Nov. 1, when he had five catches for 124 yards and a touchdown in the 38-14 win. He warmed up ahead of the game at Purdue and dressed to play in that game on Nov. 1, but he did not play. He was ruled out for the Buckeyes’ win over UCLA last week when the official availability report was released two hours prior to kickoff and again for the win over Rutgers

As for Jeremiah Smith, he followed up a career-best 10 catches for 137 yards and a touchdown in the win over Purdue with just four grabs for 40 yards in the win over UCLA after being declared questionable for the game in the pregame availability report. Smith certainly made headlines with his gingerly jog into the locker room at halftime of that game, leading to reckless speculation about his status moving forward. He was declared out for the Rutgers game in the pregame availability report.

With both of them out against Rutgers, Ohio State turned to a starting wide receiver trio of third-year receiver Brandon Inniss, former walk-on senior receiver David Adolph and a host of tight ends splitting duty. Bryson Rodgers and Mylan Graham were expected to have a major role in the offense, but they played sparingly on Saturday. Max Klare was the star of the passing game, hauling in seven passes for a career-high 105 yards and a touchdown.

It’s no secret, though, that Ohio State has a much better chance to take down Michigan for the first time since 2019 if Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate are both in action on Saturday.

Now the expectations for both of them are becoming more optimistic a few days from kickoff.